Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu, on Saturday, reiterated that his party is not against the formation of a separate Telangana state.
Participating in the TDP's regional conference at Kompally in Hyderabad, Naidu said that the TDP has clarified several times that it is not against granting statehood for the Telangana region.
He said that the party has clarified its stand both before the public and the Centre on several occasions.
The TDP chief also announced that all cases registered against Telangana activists would be withdrawn if his party comes to power in the next elections. He also expressed sympathies with the families of those who had committed suicide (allegedly) for the cause of Telangana.
Speaking about the ensuing gram panchayat elections, Naidu said that the state government was conducting the polls in a non-cordial atmosphere. However, he expressed confidence that the TDP would win the gram panchayat polls.
Naidu also said that the TDP has always been in favour of strengthening local bodies and of the decentralisation of power. He said that the party would grant more power to gram sabhas and other local bodies if it returns to power in the state.
The TDP president also accused the state government of providing inadequate relief to the pilgrims who were stranded in the Uttarakhand floods. He said that while the TDP helped the pilgrims on humanitarian grounds, the government has even failed to pay the promised compensation of Rs. 2 lakh each to the families of those killed in the floods.
TDP leaders from Ranga Reddy, Mahaboobnagar, Nalgonda and Nizamabad districts are participating in the party's regional conference, which has been convened to finalise the strategy for the upcoming gram panchayat elections. (INN)